This video is, maybe, the perfect distillation of how the ways we test for neurological differences—in my language, neuro-deviances—are... dumb and bad. Please watch the video, because Janet McNamara's delivery is perfection. Here's the transcript:
My current therapist asked me other day... she said, "have you ever been tested for autism?"
And I said, "why does everyone keep asking me that?"
The truth is, I have been tested for autism. I've been tested twice.
And I told her... I said, "they said I'm not autistic, because I don't have any sensory issues. The tags on my shirts don't bother me, so they said I don't have any sensory issues."
And my therapist said, "did you mention that you wore a lifejacket every day for two years?"
And I said, "no. they didn't ask... They asked me if the tags on my shirts bother me... And the tags on my shirts don't bother me... because I buy shirts without tags...
and that's what makes me neurotypical."
This is an extremely common experience that people with obvious neuro-deviances have to suffer through, because people with both ASD and adhd tend towards literal mindedness. In Janet McNamara's example, she answered the questions she was offered in a very straightforward fashion:
Question: Do the tags in your shirts bother you?
Answer : They do not.
Clinical assessment: This means that you cannot have ASD, because to be a person with ASD, you must experience sensory issues. Since you do not have any sensory issues, you it logically follows that you cannot have ASD.
But... this is, of course, foolishness. The way that diagnosis occurs in the context of conditions such as ASD and adhd is through what is referred to as diagnostic criteria in the DSM. Diagnostic criteria are a checklist of, almost exclusively, behaviours that must be exhibited to be able to attach a particular diagnosis to a particular person.
But this whole thing is not able to take into consideration all the work that those of us with neuro-deviances do to fit in. For instance, one of the common questions asked in the context of adhd assessments is whether you commonly lose your wallet or keys. If you ask me that I question, I would tell you that I never lose my wallet or keys. But... is it the case that I never lose my wallet or keys because I, like Janet McNamara, am amazing neurotypical?
It.is.not.
The reason I never lost my wallet and keys is that for many decades now, I have devised and slavishly follow a foolproof system for myself, because... I USED TO REGULARLY LOSE MY FUCKING WALLET AND KEYS ALL THE TIME! AND I FOUND THAT TO BE A VERY UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE. AND SO... I MADE A DEAL WITH THE UNIVERSE THAT IF I DID THINGS A CERTAIN WAY, I WOULDN'T LOSE MY KEYS ANYMORE.
Does this mean I an neurotypical—neuro-mean in my parlance? It does not. It means that I engage in regular cognitive and emotional work so that I do not lose my wallet and keys. This is the kind of work that those of us with neuro-deviances do on a moment-by-moment basis to keep our metaphorical heads above water. But... it is important to know that just because you cannot see it and just because I am not letting you know about it does not mean that I am not attending to it.
If you want to know why people with adhd do not always have the "appropriate" amount of attention for the thing you want them to do, it's because they are focused on all the myriad ways they might lose their wallet and keys and are taking steps to prevent it.
A bit of Peter Seller's silliness to conclude:
